Former Detroit Southeastern Jungaleer and Iowa State Cyclone Percy Gibson Transfers to Oakland

Last week the Oakland Grizzlies loss junior forward Lloyd Neely who decided to transfer to Saginaw Valley State University. Well now it seems the Oakland Grizzlies have something to celebrate because the Grizzlies have landed Iowa State transfer and Detroit native Percy Gibson.

Now, the news of Gibson’s decision transfer is no surprise because back in April, Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg announced that Gibson plan to transfer.

“I spoke with Percy after the season and he indicated a desire to transfer to another school,” Hoiberg said. “We thank Percy for his efforts the last three years and will assist him in any way we can.”

“I’d like to thank Coach Hoiberg and the rest of the coaches for the opportunity to play at Iowa State,” Gibson said. “I will take with me the memories and friendships created with my teammates. I also want to thank Iowa State’s fans for their support the last three years.”

As I said above, the decision to transfer was not a surprise, despite being very talented Gibson saw a decrease in playing time in his third season with the team. As a sophomore, he averaged 12 minutes per game in 2012-13, but only around 5 minutes of playing time in 2013-14 season as a junior.

While I am sure the Cyclones will miss him and would have loved him for him to stay, this is ultimately a good move for Gibson.

The Former Detroit Southeastern Jungaleer, was once considered to be one of the top players in the city of Detroit and definitely one of the better players in the state of Michigan. During his junior year, he averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds a game and was considered to be the enforcer in a Jungaleers’ 1-2 punch that included his teammate Brandan Kearney, who recently announced his decision transfer to Detroit Mercy.

As a senior at Detroit Southeastern, Gibson was even more impressive, as he averaged 21 points, 12 rebounds and nearly three blocks per game. Keep in mind that he did all that while leading his team the Class A Michigan state final in 2011 and earning plenty of accolades like being named first-team Class A all-state and Detroit News All-Area selection. When it came to his college decision, Gibson was originally signed with Dayton, but was later released from his letter of intent after a coaching change, after taking time to visit other schools, Gibson chose to commit and sign with Iowa State.

Now that he is transferring to Oakland, I hope to see him thrive like he did in high school. Under NCAA transfer regulations, he will have to sit out the 2014-2015 season but overall this a good situation for the Gibson and the Oakland Grizzlies.

At 6-foot-9 and 255 pounds, there is no doubt that Gibson is a force when inside the paint and that’s exactly what Oakland needs right now. You have to remember that Oakland center Corey Petros will play his final year this season and once he leaves, it will be perfect for Gibson to step in the following year. Gibson has always played tough and provided great production on the court when given the opportunity and he now has the opportunity to do that and more at Oakland.

Written by LBeasley (Lauren Beasley), Sports Contributor for Radio One Detroit